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Tucson-based television news channel KVOA reports on a Greek Orthodox monastery in the Arizona desert that has been a source of controversy (link added):

For the past 8 months, the Eyewitness News 4 Investigators have been documenting several families’ claims of brainwashing and inappropriate teachings at St. Anthony’s Greek Orthodox Monastery.

The monastery is one of eighteen in the USA founded by Father Ephraim of Philotheou, a Greek monk who lived for years on Mount Athos, Greece’s famous monastic centre. The report focuses on complaints from parents unhappy that their young adult children have chosen the monastic life, and includes input from a disaffected ex-member, David Smith:

He says, he was told to live with his wife like brother and sister. He also says, his spiritual advisor, Father Ephraim’s second-in-command, told him to whip himself when he thought of sex.

DAVID SMITH: “[Ephraim’s second-in-command] told me I should cut the electrical cord, which I did, and he told me to do it on an inconspicuous part of my body. I chose, you know, my upper thighs…In confession, I was told about the protocols [of the Elders of Zion]. It’s where I was taught that the end of the world is coming, that there’s a shadow government that controls the United States, that FEMA had concentration camps set up to destroy families with.”

Smith’s website can be seen here. It certainly does seem strange that a monastery would encourage a married man to embrace celibacy (especially as the Greek Orthodox Church has married priests). As for the Protocols:

The Eyewitness News 4 Investigators found, Father Ephraim himself makes reference to The Protocols of Zion. That’s a book that claims there’s a secret Jewish conspiracy for world domination.

In one of his own writings, Father Ephraim references the Protocols. He calls the Zionists “infamous” and the Protocols “notorious”, but, religious experts say, any reference at all to that writing goes against Greek Orthodox faith.

The full quote, from A Call from the Holy Mountain, is provided on a hostile website set up by some of the parents:

“One Sunday, a preacher delivered a sermon on “love your enemies”. On the Sunday after, he spoke against alcohol addiction – about the havoc it wrought among Christian peoples. Incidently [sic], the infamous Zionists greatly boast about this in their notorious ‘Protocols’.

It is important to note, in the quotes cited by Smith, Elder Ephraim speaks against the Zionists, not Judaism or the Jewish people…Many people of greatly varied political and religious views are opposed to Zionism for many different reasons, and it would be ridiculous to claim that all of them are anti-Semites. There are even Jewish people and organizations that oppose Zionism. Are they also anti-Semites? This is plainly ridiculous.

Well, I’d agree with some of that – but the question is why Ephraim speaks “against the Zionists”, not why someone else might. First, and most obviously, why does Ephraim cite a forged document composed by Russian anti-Semites? And this quote provides a bit more insight into his thinking:

Papists, Protestants, Jehovah Witnesses, Freemasons, Unionists, Ecumenists and any other “root of bitterness” – all these have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast. These shall make war with Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them; for He is the Lord of Lords, and King of Kings; and they that are with Him are called, and chosen, and faithful.

It seems pretty clear that Ephraim’s opposition to Zionism has nothing to do with Palestinian rights, but rather is rooted in conspiracy theories and a wider hostility against anything outside of Greek Orthodoxy. And given that Ephraim first entered Mt Athos at the age of 19 in 1948, I wouldn’t really expect much else. Anti-Semitism has always been part of the religious culture of Mount Athos; Christopher Merrill’s book Looking for God on the Holy Mountain shows that it is still present. However, Joyful Light claims that

…the Elder’s own personal medical doctor in Phoenix is a Jew. A lawyer that the Monastery uses is also a Jew. In addition, there are a number of Monks who are from Jewish backgrounds, and at least one of the Orthodox Priests who regularly visits St. Anthony’s Monastery is a Jewish convert to Christianity. I know two of these people quite well, and they have never complained of any anti-Semitic teaching coming from Elder Ephraim.

Ephraim’s spokesman Father Anthony tells KVOA that “the monastery prays for Israel and the United States every day.”

KVOA also raises the question of the financing of the American monasteries. The response from Fr Anthony is somewhat shifty and vague:

[Kristi] TEDESCO: How much money was spent building the monastery in Florence [Arizona]?

FATHER ANTHONY: A few thousand dollars.

TEDESCO: How much?

FATHER ANTHONY: A few thousand, I don’t know how many.

TEDESCO: A few thousand? Wouldn’t you say closer to millions?

FATHER ANTHONY: Probably.

…TEDESCO: Where is the money coming from?…

FATHER ANTHONY: From the United States. From people… From believers. I don’t know from where.

On the other hand, some of the complaints made are a bit weak. Here’s one of the parents:

JOHN PANTANIZOPOULOS: “Their brain is run by the monastery. They can’t read whatever they want to read. They have to ask for permission for everything they do.”

KVOA responds to that, and to Smith’s claims of self-flagellation, by noting that:

All of this may seem bizarre, but religious experts say it’s all very typical of monasticism. It’s how novices and monks are disciplined in their religion.

It’s a shame we don’t hear a bit more from these “religious experts”, who could have provided a bit more context. The only expert we actually see is a hostile commentator; this is Bradley Nassif, who works in Evangelical-Orthodox dialogue. A short profile elsewhere notes:

A consultant for Time and Christianity Today magazines, he has been a television commentator for the documentary series “Christianity: The First Thousand Years” and “The Jesus Experience: Jesus Among the Slavs.” Much of his work over the past 30 years has been devoted to introducing evangelical students and faculty to the riches of the Orthodox tradition.

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28 Responses

I’m surprised you didn’t include denunciations of “popery” and “non-white” religion in your blog commentary. Maybe you’ll find a juicy sex scandal or just manufacture one. To address context: For the record, the VAST MAJORITY of revolutionaries in Russia WERE of Jewish extraction, some of whom later turned out to be zionists and founded the state of Israei. They organized CONCENTRATION CAMPS, FAMINES, PEDIATRIC EUTHANASIA FACILITIES, in RUSSIA where MILLIONS were liquidated or worked to death or FORCED INTO/compromised by CANNIBALISM. During the revolution, they ran organizations such as the CHEKA which perpetrated atrocities on tens of thousands of people. Now, anti-semitism is an evil and the protocols are the most famous BANNED book in the liberal West whose authenticity I utterly question. Yet their contents and scheme, WHOSE EVER IT IS OR HOWEVER IT MANIFESTS ITSELF–not scapegoating anyone–are manifested today in societal ills which are destroying the West. These ills is what the quote focuses on combatting, not groups to scapegoat. I would be the first to condemn the pogroms, BOTH ANTI-JEWISH AND ANTI RUSSIAN ORTHODOX (Which you seem oblivious to and uninformed of). Furthermore, a careful review of the February revolution in Russia, which deposed the Tsar’ and set the stage for the bolshevik takeover, will find a masonic Anglo-American plot coordinated through the British embassy and Russian masonic lodges. One need simply READ Buchanan’s (then British Ambassador to Russia) and Woodrow Wilson’s papers. How do I know? My family survived this hell on earth and its pretty imprints coloured my life into understanding what, who, why, how. Evidentally, you weren’t informed of these things, as you haven’t been directed to my presentation of the liar, david smith, WHOM I KNEW PERSONALLY. Your ignorance, slander and disrespect for a charismatic Elder is symptomatic of a hatred of Orthodoxy and a nascent intolerance of religions and societies removed from your own. You could have just as well worn a white hood in your blog spot. You should have a burning cross as your emblem. kvoa and you are masterful in your own “protocols.” R

My family survived this hell on earth and its pretty imprints coloured my life into understanding what, who, why, how.

It also seems to have turned you into a paranoid and embittered individual. Throwing around accusations of racism just because I’ve criticised someone you happen to like just makes you look silly – and combined with your anti-semitism, shows you up as a hypocrite, too.

Anti-semitism? Antisemites denounce pogroms and hate groups and the protocols and oppose neo-nazis and the klan?! Whereas YOU clearly show an anti-“non-white” church bias in your unlettered take on things. Where am I an antisemite? I think that’s some bones out of your closet. Paranoid? Of what? The truth which you choose not to address but rather encapsulate in your hate-filled perspectives on religion, history, even david smith, smugly comfortable in your morass of leftist intolerance?! Of course, your subtle jab against “Russian asiatic mongrels who are inferior” was QUITE noticed==yes, in your mind we are deficient too and “non-white and second class in rights and dignity.” Yet your hate-filled message is failing, not mine. It’s not a matter of like or dislike–it’s a matter of slander vs. truth, something you’re not interested in. You know you have no clothes. I challenge you to SUBSTANTIATE ANY accusations you’ve made against myself or the monastery. But guilt by insinuation, accusation or epithet more than works for your type of hate monger. In my prior comment, I ripped the biased “gravitas” out of your hate and indicated first-hand knowledge that I knew david smith was a liar: he initially mentioned me as a source. I stated that the protocols–which I believe to be forgeries–are not the central point of the decontextualized statements but the ills being confronted by our society which were propagated therein. I attacked the ills while discounting the source. The Elder also attacked the ills. I gave you a history lesson WHICH I CAN DOCUMENT. That provides you a context of just exactly what and how things were brought up to an audience WHICH SURVIVED horrors and atrocities. Perhaps you lack the rudiments of the English language to get that in your liberal no-nothing ivory tower. And, oh, do you dispute, Woodrow Wilson and Ambassador Buchanan were freemasons or that the freemasons had sought the overthrow of the Russian monarchy since the Decembrist Uprising or that Woodrow Wilson would not commit American troops to combat in Europe until Tsarist rule was ended or that Ambassador Bucahanan worked with the foreign office to try and reneg on all England’s secret treaties with Russia which it seems was on the verge of taking Austria out of the war in the spring of 1917, something which he needed to take steps to prevent “for fear of a separate peace with Germany”?! Are you that ignorant?! There’s plenty of other more juicy things in the papers. Educate yourself in your faux elitist mentalite of liberal dogmatism. And now all you can gurgle is a modern day howard dean-esque neutered “white power!” in a subdued liberal effeminate bitchiness, worthy of clowns and pretenders to intellect. Keep burning your crosses, but your agenda’s coming down.

And now all you can gurgle is a modern day howard dean-esque neutered “white power!” in a subdued liberal effeminate bitchiness, worthy of clowns and pretenders to intellect.

Whereas real men WRITE SEMI-COHERENTLY IN CAPS and throw around baseless accusations of racism when they read something they don’t like. The fact is that my blog entry tries to assess the various media reports concerning Fr Ephraim as neutrally as possible. You may not like that, but to suggest that it means that I am a racist is simply pathetic. “”Russian asiatic mongrels who are inferior”? This is all in your head.

Pathetic is the FACT that you can’t appreciate emphatic speech, because you lack an intellectual pulse. Moreover, as I underline once more: your account is biased, not treating the subject matter on its terms, not even open enough to listen to contextualized and firsthand knowledge of the institution in question, nor to examine the historical specifics of the communities and persons in question, INCLUDING THE kvoa REPORT. If that is any type of objective analysis, then bigotry and hate are also objective. Why bigotry and hate? Because, like me (an “asiatic mongrel” in your warped reasonings), this institution and its vocation are not deserving in your opinion of investigation and the dignity of reasonable scrutiny to ascertain whether accusation, label, or defamation have any grounding in fact. You see, when you skirt FACTS about certain communities and people, when you wouldn’t do that about others, it becomes all too telling that your agenda is not genuine. Firstly, Eldership in the Orthodox Church is a hallowed institution not lightly insulted, tracing its roots back the Holy Prophets of old Israel. Secondly, Mount Athos is historically known for its authority in Eastern Orthodox matters and spiritual directorship and has defined “legitimate” Orthodoxy for over a millenium. Thirdly, Orthodox communties and peoples have different historical experiences and a mystical sense of the sacred as well as everyday life which is approached seriously. Fourthly, Orthodoxy is the culmination of the Faith handed down by the Holy Apostles and is the True representative of that evangelical Faith. But this is all to your unlettered mind and voice a “cult.” Then the Bible is cult literature. Now, when one finds all these uncomfortable facts boulderdash or worthy of insult, WITHOUT ANY SUBSTANTIATION TO BIAS, one insults the heritage of 300 million people and 2 millenium and attempts to desecrate that which is holy. It isn’t a matter of what one likes or dislikes. It’s a matter of respect and cogent, thoughtful, scrupulous critique. Your stated lack of examination of the FACTS of the matter and dismissal of differing views while upholding your polluted distortions of Truth, validated by your little opinion only, despite being SHOWN TO BE WRONG uncovers the hate. You can’t slander and spit on what other people hold to be holy. Your approach is classic klan, no nothing hate mongering. Thus, yes, you are nothing more than a disguised klansman in a howard dean mask, defiling religious inquiry with your no nothing apish attempts at impersonating rational analysis. Your account is like reading david duke’s attempt at assessing inner city poverty and your address of myself like reading adolf hitler’s dismissal of the Slavic mud man. You intentionally continue to offend religious sensibilities without even an inkling of trying to ascertain what is Truth, what do other people hold sacred, who are these other people. That is callous, unmitigated hate. Your blog is an excuse for wearing a brown shirt to validate your inner lackings, in the hopes of becoming a “real man.” Your cross is burning out, hate monger.

I think much of the offense taken at Fr. Ephraim’s works would apply Orthodox monasticism in general. Yes, its a strict life. You live in poverty. You can’t read what you want, eat what you want, play video games, go on dates, etc. That’s what its all about – rejecting the world, devoting your life to Christ, and trying to become holy. And while many people would find the idea of a married couple abstaining from sex implausible, or offensive, and so on, that is very much the norm whenever an Orthodox couple have decided to pursue the ‘angelic life’ (the monastic life) after having been married. So, for instance, St. John of Kronstadt, a popular Russian saint, and part of the married clergy, lived celibately with his wife.
That being said, the whole anti-semitic thing simply doesn’t make sense, considering the patriarchs, prophets, holy Kings and Queens, Christ, and the apostles, disciples, and early martyrs were all Jews.

Homosexuality is an unpardonable offense against nature and a horrible sin.
The 3% of homosexuals (and those with the money behind them) are brainwashing our children that this is OK. It is not OK, it brings death and the punishment from God.

Now, you know the truth, you won’t be able to excuse yourself by telling God that you didn’t know.

I agree that homosexuality isn’t a pure lifestyle and is in fact, condemned in the Bible; however, being an Orthodox Christian or any type of Christian for that matter means to love the person, hate the sin. Condemning anyone will onyl drive them farther away. God does not punish, ever, people choose their eternity.

Ther ARE FEMA camps in America. Go to Youtube and watch all the many videos. Type it in on Google. Just because David Smith is ignorant of what is going on in the world, does not mean he should fault the monastery.

I’m disappointed to read such an article of blatant bias. A credible research endeavor requires adequate views from both sides without the interjections of the author. Haha it’s silly to say this is neutral when the opinion is clearly stated.
Also note, RM if you are an Orthodox Christian, then you know that the Church has taken much worse a beating than one badmouther. This being the case, there is no need for such defensive behavior; humility is the best action and silence the best answer.

I lived in Thessaloniki 25-30 years ago and spent a lot of time on Mt Athos in those years. My spiritual father is Fr. Aimilianos of Simonopetra monastery, so I’m not biased against monasticism in any way, but very early in my visits to Mt Athos I learned to steer clear of Ephraim and his monasteries. Having been raised in America among Mormons and evangelicals, I was astounded to hear the crazy antisemitism, anticatholic bigotry, apocalyptic fervor, and literalistic fanaticism that passed for Orthodoxy in those monasteries. Breathless tales of Orthodox generals rising up to take back Saint Sophia’s (where the priest who was celebrating at the time of the Alosi will reappear through a wall at the back of the apse), worries about 666 on ID cards, weeping over the establishment of civil marriage in Greece, condemning priests and bishops who pray with nonOrthodox; the list goes on. Ironically, in the spectrum of beliefs on Athos in those days Ephraim’s monasteries were the moderates, Esphigmenou was where the real nutcases hung out (with their Orthodoxy or death sign out front). I spent a lot of time on Mt Athos with spiritual men who were full of Christ’s love. Never once in the many times I visited the nonEphraim monasteries was I subjected to this kind of bigotry and fanaticism. I was saddened when the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese allowed Ephraim to spread his poison to America, especially since American orthodox were thirsty for monasticism (as evidenced in the remarkable outpouring of funds to build the monasteries.) Instead of true Orthodoxy, they were handed over to James Dobson in an antiri (cassock). A student of church history, I’m aware that monasticism has often been associated with this kind of fanaticism. I generally keep quiet about my opinions on this matter. I am friends with those who attend these monasteries. I don’t want to introduce more division than already exists, but someone has to speak up. EPHRAIM’S orthodoxy is not orthodox, unless you believe in the horrifying betrayal of Orthodoxy by the Ecumenical Patriarchate (our very own Church!) because he met the Pope. Ephraim is in a long line of fanatics. Orthodoxy in Greece suffers from these pseudoGerontas. And now they’ve come here to spread their bigoted, antiChristian, and yes, antiOrthodox anathema as the face of Orthodox spirituality in this country. I trust that the response of the fanatics will be as venomous as those above. Bias is one thing, but I base my opinion on intimate familiarity with the origin of this counterfeit “orthodoxy”. I invite unbiased Orthodox to prayerfully examine the matter. I find nothing of Christ among these people. Do we want Christ’s precious church to be hijacked by the Jerry Falwell of the Orthodox world? I worry that it may be too late as I can’t seem to go anywhere in the church and not run into Ephraim’s fellow travelers and enablers. I’m confident that when Christ returns, he will not have nice things to say about these pharisees, these whited sepulchers.

Wow!! I am not orthodox but I had the great spiritual gift of meeting Elder Ephraim and tonight surfing the net I honestly can’t believe this!! I was allowed to stay there and rest as i had recently broken my ankle. I was given love, food and spiritual advice, never asked for anything. I was treated with both love and respect and all together spent close to two months there. I ended up going back for more…spirituality. I repeat …I am not orthodox ,nor Greek (if anything, some of the older greek women didn’t understand why I was there, and no, I had and have money ,it wasn’t for the free food). I just can’t believe this, the T.V. report bearing false witness, I mean, yeah it is pretty obvious something weird is going on. In response to Tom I will say only this. I will pray for you (it’s what the monks at St. Anthony’s begged me to do for people like you. You are not a bad guy, just naive. Still shame on you

Many sick and suffering people run to Elder Ephraim, who with the help of the Elder, their faith and the grace of God, are healed. People receive courage, peace, calm and hope in God and a joy that is indescribable. Indeed, many contemporary miracles occur!

There are innumerable stories of sick people becoming perfectly well and are grateful to the Elder and take him to be their spiritual father, and he advises them and leads them along the heavenly road of salvation and theosis

The only one who can save you is our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Your spritual father and elders cannot do this. Only in America do we see monstascism and church communities mixing like this, and it is wrong. Monastics stay at monasteries and have no business consulting or advising others who are not monastics themselves.

I believe the stories and miracles of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ — anything else does not matter.

St. Paul wrote about false prophets and MEN (because that is what we are, regardless of whether or not we are ordained or tonsured or have a piece of paper from a theological school or wear an anterri) and that people will forget the words of Christ.

Who do you follow? The One who was sent as our Savior and the only one who can give us Salvation, or a man?

kaimeni youlda den erxete divinity is like a balloon not a hoax saints are like brave men you see there heads
read john and maybe you will understand but if you need look evretania at the end i will write toots will always be toots dont worship her for she is a harltot inspector general says he did you ever watch the church lady saturday night live when she becomes satan toots shes is a harlot fear not and i would call jezebel a moron but not queen of all harlots end message

When our son left the guru cult leader elder after six years under his control milieu, false salvation and mind control he told me the following:

‘The elder is a charlatan and the GOA is a cult’

The EOC in America is corrupt, failed, irrelevant and dying. It is based upon religious totalism by church and state power and control. That is its thinking and how it thinks is how it operates. It operates like it is GOD.

It makes no difference if the Orthodox are under independent OCA like rule or foreign rule like the GOA. The theology, structure and system of both is providing them both with failure outcomes that have no solution. The two largest jurisdictions in America are corrupt to their cores without solution by the same systemic cause. They both believe their failed theology, structure and system are their solution over their corrupt failures by their theology, structure and system. That is Orthodox Christian reasoning at its finest.

Oh, and, BTW, they will know your are Orthodox Christians by the love shared between the OCA and GOA. They will know you are Christians by your love. I read that in the Bible that the EO believe they wrote.

How a church thinks determines its outcome in the real world. Anyone with Christian conscience that is not apathetic and indifferent can see the true state of the GOA in America by its outcome after 200 years here. Anyone can see the cause of it corrupt failure and anyone can see that it has no solution to its corrupt church failure.

The idol of power and control rules over the EOC and in particular the GOA. It is having an idolatry outcome of church seen. It is the church that idolizes itself and its rulers as its own salvation. It is the church of self protection, self sufficiency and self centeredness in its claim made of being Gods only alone right and one true church and salvation.

Any church that follows its role model will have its same outcome in the real world. The claim is self centered and not other centered and so the EOC is seen in the real world as having a self centered end. You think like the totalism claim tells you how to think and how a church thinks determines its outcome in the real world.

Totalism is self centered in its power and control. It thinks survival through self protection.

Christ is other centered in humility and service. He thinks relevancy through risk taking.

Depending which one your EOC is truly based upon determines its outcome in the real world. The elder is all about the self centered and self serving theology, structure and system of both the EOC and his cult monasteries. He is a symptom pointing directly to the outcome end of the GOA. It is a CULT of self serving self centeredness and its dead outcome end is the proof.

The more the basis of a church is totalism power and control the more that church goes out of control by its totalism power and control and is turned into a CULT. It goes out of control because God is not totalism. It goes CORRUPT by mans control that is not the power of the Holy Spirit that does not lead a church into corrupt failure that has no solution. God is humility and service. Christ is other centered. Totalism is self centered. You can tell the difference in churches based upon one or the other. It is obvious by outcome in how they both differently think.

Totalism self serves in its self focus. It is pride centered.

Christ serves others in other focus. He is humility centered.

Is the GOA having a humility outcome or a pride outcome??? The elder is the solution when he is the problem like the entire theology, structure and system in corrupt failure is the solution? Mt. Athos monasticism is going to save the GOA and turn it into salvation relevancy to our generation?

How a church theology, structure and system thinks determines it SERVICE and how it serves others determines its outcome in the real world.

The Roman state was other centered or self centered in focus? Merging the church with the state was the vision that Christ left us with in the Great Commission? Merging the corrupt secular with the holy church was Gods plan? Roman state totalism power and control merged with Christ is Christ come to us in the Gospels as our salvation?

The Orthodox claim to be Gods only alone right and one true church. That is an absolute claim that the Orthodox in rational modernity will be objectively held accountable too. Your outcome proves the claim truth or lie. If the claim is true the EOC is Gods only alone right and one true Christianity that all Christianity is compared too to determine its God correctness in comparison to the corrupt and failed EOC.

Any church outside of the EOC and that follows its theology, structure and system will have the same end result as the EOC. A church thinks through its salvation and in Orthodoxy the salvation is the theology, structure and system of the church. That theology, structure and system are the success or failure of the EOC in this world.

Orthodox salvation thinks through tradition, totalism and orthodoxy. You know, the same things that the Sanhedrin that Christ confronted were based upon. It was their failure and it is the failure of the EOC. The EOC is nothing more than the Sanhedrin like church seen in the real world of its outcome.

Christ and the Apostles did not come to us as monastics or elders. There is absolutely no Gospels or NT calling or basis for monasticism. Christ and the Apostles did not live their lives out in a tree, sitting on a rock or holed up in an isolated monastery. If that is the role model of Christ come to us then the Orthodox outcome is obvious and it is clearly seen. Monasticism is nothing more than a works, performance and legalistic tradition of men.

The Orthodox outcome is a closed and subjective outcome of your find us and God does not find you through us. The objective church in success is the comparison to the Orthodox subjective failure church in the real world where church relevancy matters to those Christians who are not Orthodox irrelevant.

The GOA is really only relevant to its self centered self and the guru cult leader elder in his closed isolation in Orthodox monastic tradition of men thinking is only closing it more. Yes, center your thinking on what is closed and isolated as your role model of Christ and that will be your church outcome seen in the reality of the real world. Center your thinking on control milieu in guru cult leader elder thinking and believe that is the solution to the corrupt and failed GOA state. Obey the elder without thinking for yourself question. Obey the GOA hierarchy without thinking for yourself question. Follow their leadership to your church outcome. Believe that your corrupt and failed theology, structure and system are your salvation and let that be your outcome end seen for what it truly is in the rational real world of modernity.

How a church thinks is through its theology, structure and system determine its outcome. The church of top down centralized totalism power and control can only think like the totalism tells it how to think. It is mind control that mind controls the EOC to its corrupt and failed end. How a church thinks determines its outcome in rational objectivity that can think for itself and does not deny the outcome or the cause of the corrupt failure of the EOC.

The Orthodox subjective Orthodox claim is exposed for what it truly always has been. The outcome of the claim does not match the claim made. The Orthodox wall and prop up of the Roman state church cannot cover up, hide or lie about its outcome by claim any longer. God has shifted the paradigm of Christianity and it is found relevant in rational modernity that exposes the archaic EO failure hidden for centuries behind its wall and prop up.

Do the Orthodox know what their WALL is and do they know what their PROP UP is? Christ did not come to us in the Gospels as a wall or a prop up. That only results in a church of religious codependency and the Orthodox do not know what religious codependency is. It is their church incarnate. The Orthodox are totalism codependent and are not set free by Christ of that dependency.

A power and control basis of church will always lead a church into legalism and works as its salvation. That is exactly what Christ pointed out and confronted in the Gospels. Think it through for yourself without totalism thinking for you and the freedom of mind that rational Christ centered objective gives you will see this. If you think like the totalism tells you how to think you will never see it.

Close and isolated subjectivity cannot find the open and objective Holy Spirit centered solution and it dies for that failure to see who Christ truly came to us as in the Gospels.

Closed and isolated religious totalism does not have the objectivity of the rational God to see itself for what it truly is from the cause that has made it what it truly is. Its thinks very similar to how the Sanhedrin thinks. The EOC is having a closed and subjective outcome of church failure and it cannot see the cause of the failure. It uses the cause of the failure as it Gods only alone right and one true solution to its corrupt failure and it does not work.

Paradigm shift of Gods relevancy in our generation exposes the left behind dying EO paradigm for what it truly is. Gods only alone right and one true church is found irrelevancy in our modernity generation where its wall and prop up do not work in freedom of religion, freedom of mind and freedom of inalienable individual rights.

Christ in the Gospels did not come to us as a religious totalism structure and sytstem of top down authoritarian power and control. He did not come to us a top down, closed, isolated, exclusive, reclusive and subjective structure and system of power and control. He did not come to us as the Roman state church.

Top down power and control pushes a church down and molds it into failure and irrelevancy.

Christ came to us as a bottom up and open system of humility and service. He came to us OPPOSITE of what He confronted to draw the stark and clear comparison that could not be missed. Humility and service come under the church and raise it up to Christ’s character by TRANSFORMATION.

You can see the outcome of a Christ centered and Christ transformed church. It is safe, healthy, objective and alive. It can innovate to change to relevancy to alive Christ church. It is not seen dying in a left behind paradigm that cannot paradigm shift to the relevancy of Christ in our generation. It is not seen as a top down church molded into corruption and failure. The EOC is in complete systemic failure in all jurisdictions from the same theology, structure and system cause.

The elder after 19 monasteries and a generation among the GOA has not transformed its state of corrupt failure into holy relevancy. The GOA is in a worse state today than ever before and its state by its theology, structure and system is not going to change. A paradigm that believes it is Gods only alone right and one true church and salvation does not have to innovate to change to find relevancy. It is the only relevancy paradigm of God and salvation by the absolute claim.

How a church thinks determines its outcome and the outcome of the Orthodox claim is seen for what it truly is in the real world. It is failed and it cannot live up to its claim made. It is corrupt and it cannot find solution by its claim to stop its corruption. It is dying and its salvation in its claim cannot save it from itself. That is the truth of the EOC.

Yes, all of Christianity needs to follow the Godly role model and example of the GOA’s EP, Archbishop, bishops, elder, monastics, priests and laity to find their salvation relevancy in rational modernity. They all need to follow the GOA that is Gods only alone right and one true church and salvation to have its same logical end result by believing itself those things.

What is rational objectivity exposes subjective irrationality. It does not work the other way around. The EOC is having a subjective and irrational outcome by its theology, structure and system of thinking. How a church thinks is through its theology and its theological thinking determines its outcome.

The Orthodox need to read about the structure and system of Christ’s thinking in the Gospels in John 8:31-59. It exposes all the Orthodox subjectively failed legalism and works self protection apologetic defenses. Those are system verses that compare the system of Christ to the system of those in bondage to tradition, totalism and orthodoxy. Christ exposes the ruler over their corrupt failure. He is a religious totalism dictatorship of power and control who mind controls to destroy. Christ exposes his false salvation that leads to failure. He exposes the orthodox reaction to His claim over their claim.

The truth that sets us free is bottom up and open system and it is not top down and closed system. That is what Christ told them. They did not like it that He did. Do you see their reaction? Truth be told, the EO have the same reaction when told the same thing. Oh, yes, they do too.

Those Christ confronted believed they were Gods only true salvation by legalism and works in top down religious totalism power and control. They too believed they were Gods only right worship, right belief, right theology, right structure and system, right traditions, right history and the right orthodoxy. They could not hear how wrong they were for how right they believed they were. The comparison between them and Christ in thinking is glaring and completely missed by those under religious totalism mind control.

Christ confronted a cult of tradition, totalism and we alone are right orthodoxy. He came as its opposite to make the clear comparison between them and to warn us to never allow ourselves to be remotely be turned into what He confronted. So, Orthodox what is your explanation, excuse or rationalization for your corrupt church failure that is circular without solution? Yes, tell me how you have not remotely been turned into what Christ confronted in the Gospels. Look to the elder for your answers. He is here as your GOA solution that cannot find solution through him.

Lol, he solving the Chicago gay bishops problem by taking over the parishes. The GOA bishops are the direct spiritual line of the Apostles, right? Paul and Peter were in a gay relationship, right? Jesus started the whole gay Apostle cadre in the Gospels, right?

How a church thinks determines its outcome. The mind conrtrol of carnal corrupt man in his fallen state of sin or the mind control of Christ that we are take our thinking too determines a church outcome. Anyone can see the difference in the outcomes of theological thinking.

In my city of 200K the Orthodox parish has been here for 55 years. On a good Sunday maybe 100 show up. In far less time than that 4 other churches have grown to over 2K in avg. Sunday attendance. 2K is the smallest of the four. Then there are all those other churches with 250 + in them. The EOC outcome by theology, structure and system of church thinking is clear. Only those blinded by totalism Orthodoxy cannot see it.

The guru cult leader elder is a symptom pointing to the larger cause of the GOA and EOC corrupt failure. The cause is the theology, structure and system that produces the mind set of the church and its mindset is corruption and failure. It is the mindset of a dying paradigm that refuses by its claim to paradigm shift to the relevancy of true salvation. It is the mind set of a cult that believes it alone is truth in salvation and anyone who does not believe that is a heretic to it.

A church thinks through its salvation and how a church thinks through its salvation determines the salvation outcome of that church. If it is Christ as salvation the outcome will be seen as relevancy and life. If it is corrupt man and his dead religion as salvation that outcome will be obvious. Yes, like the GOA outcome is not OBVIOUS and just like the CAUSE of its outcome is not OBVIOUS either.

Yes, Orthodox, keep building monasteries in America and have a closed, isolated, exclusive, reclusive and subjective end. The character of a cult is seen in its closed, isolated, exclusive, reclusive and subjective state. It is neither transparent or accountable because totalism controls all by its power that believes itself GOD. Cults are totalism mind control that corrupts the mind and leads to a corrupt end.

What, the Orthodox believe the EOC is going to have a Orthodoxy is beautiful outcome? That is cult mind control delusional to believe the EOC is not over and it is ending badly. Orthodoxy is having a ugly cult outcome.

Yes, I know, Gods only alone right and one true church could never ever be turned into a cult and its outcome in the reality of the real proves that. Only on planet Orthodoxy is that true. On planet Earth rational modernity sees the truth in the outcome for what it is. A cult of corruption based in totalism power to mind control leading all of you to your self destructive cult end.

The gates of hell cannot prevail against Gods true church, but the gates of hell can prevail against a cult. A true church outcome or a cult outcome? Which one is the outcome observed by the corrupt, failed, irrelevant and dying outcome of the EOC? Why, it is an outcome of self idolatry and all cults are about self idolatry in being the only right and true of God and salvation.

Self idolatry by claim is sin. The NT tells us sin leads to death. You know, the death of a church turned into a cult by its theology, structure and system of totalism power and control that is sin.

Self idolatry by claim is the EOC end and the guru cult leader elder loves to make that claim. It gives him totalism authority in power and control. It focuses salvation on his guru cultism and the corrupt GOA theology, structure and system that produced him.

The GOA need to obey their bishops and elder without question. They are having a obey without question end. They are having cult of totalism mind control over them end. It is over for the GOA in America and everywhere else it is found. A cult of corrupt monasticism in Astoria, Cleveland and Florence are helping it end badly. They are merely symptoms pointing to the cause of the corrupt church failure end.

How many guns did that Cleveland monk have? Sounds like a case for the ATF to me. Oh, yes, they called me a couple of years back to discuss the elder and his followers. We spent almost an hour on the phone. Glad my son escaped in the middle of the night in fear of his life. It is going to take him years to recover, but better that than living in a cult of corruption called the GOA with its guru cult leader elder. My son will recover. The GOA is not going to recover. It is over for the GOA by all objective criterion that spell out the signs of a dead church. You all deserve each other and each other is who you all get.

The paradigm shift of relevancy church, ministry and salvation has left the Orthodox behind and exposed them by the comparison they can no more escape than they can escape the corrupt failure of their church that has no solution.

The seven last words of a church dead in the grave are, we have always done it this way.

The elder is going to make sure you keep doing it this way and to your end by him. He had a vision from the Mother of God to come to the GOA and get it back on the right Mt. Athos Orthodox correct path. Believe that God speaks to him and guides him and let this Pied Piper of spiritual lies lead you into deeper corruption and failure.

Let him have power and control over all the parishes and like he is trying to have over the Chicago parishes. Let him provide you with your future monastics as bishops. Let those Ephraim monastic bishops lead the GOA into relevancy and life by Orthodox salvation.

The elder is about as much of a solution to the GOA corrupt failure as are its EP, Archbishop, bishops, priests and laity. You all are going down together from the same systemic theological, structure and system CAUSE. Every Orthodox jurisdiction in America is found in a corrupt, failed and irrelevant dying state without solution to that state. All are systemically failed by the same theology, structure and system cause. All of them.

Do the Orthodox need crayons to connect the dots between the cause and the outcome the cause creates? Can they connect symptoms to cause of the symptoms? Do they have the honesty in integrity to see the cause and how its outcome points directly to the cause?

The only way the EO are going to escape or reverse their failure is to go to cause of the failure. If you deny the cause of the failure you will never find solution and never finding solution means you never find relevancy in this generation or any future generations. It means you are over.

Yes, EO tell me how it is not over for you. Your best case scenario outcome is a dying irrelevant church of survival existence that is circular without solution. Your best possible outcome is the state of your church right now. Dead by erasing itself out of existence.

If the GOA is Gods only alone right and one true church and salvation then PROVE IT by its outcome. Outcome of claim made proves the claim. The words in the claim do not in rational modernity. Yes, I know, the Orthodox hate both rational thinking and modernity. They are its greatest threat to its existence. Especially Christianity that is rational and relevant in modernity.

The Orthodox hate how the rational comparison exposes their theology, structure and system failure. The Orthodox hate what they cannot control by their totalism theology, structure and system. Rational is objective. Totalism is subjective. The Orthodox hate what objectively exposes them. They hate it because they cannot control what it exposes about them.

Rational objectivity exposes irrational subjectivity and it does not work the other way around. If it did work the other way around all of Christianity would be found in the corrupt and failed subjective EOC state.

How your theology, structure and system think has determined the EOC outcome. Only the EO deny that outcome from its cause. The more you die from cause the more the living church of salvation relevancy lives from its cause.

Any church that cannot paradigm shift to the relevancy of Gods salvation in any generation needs to die and go away. It is only a ball and chain drag on true salvation and the future of Christianity in all future generations. What is dead cannot bring salvation life to the dead. God knows that and that is why the EOC does not lead world mission and evangelism. God cannot take the Great Commission forward with relevancy through corrupt and failed dying church. Period.

The greatest mission and evangelism field of this century is China and the Orthodox are not there with salvation relevancy. Not to worry. The living true church that God delivers true salvation through is there. Your paradigm is frozen dead trying to survive to exist and it cannot move outside of its survival existence state any real relevancy fashion to move mission and evangelism forward. The Orthodox are dying backwards without solution. God knows what He is doing with the Gospel. He is competent. The Orthodox are not and so God allows them to die in their irrelevant paradigm that cannot paradigm shift to the greatest mission field ever seen before.

The EOC is over. God left it behind in its dying paradigm compared to the living paradigm of God and the comparison reveals the nature of the cause of the corrupt EOC failure that has no solution. Die corrupt and irrelevant church die! You are standing in the way of God future forward vision for mission and evangelism in modernity. The EOC has no vision other than a vision for its self centered and self protective self. That is the vision of religious totalism dictatorship.

Where there is no vision the people of God PERISH. I read that in the Bible. If you apply it the right way it provides the right outcome of church. If you apply it in the wrong way you will have a wrong outcome of church. The Orthodox are applying the Bible to the way they believe the Bible speaks truth. However, their outcome proves they have twisted its truth into lies that lead a church into corrupt failure that has no solution.

Belief in lies = corrupt failure.

Belief in truth = relevancy success.

If you apply lies to a lie problem to solve its problem will you have a truth outcome?

Could it be more Christ in the Gospels simple?

I was one of the parents in the KOVA expose’ of the elder. I have gone to the monastery and even spent the night there before I exposed the guru cult leader like few have.

He has many plans for the GOA and all of them are closed, isolated, exclusive, reclusive and subjective plans for the GOA and all are based upon the theology, structure and system of the GOA. How a church thinks is determined by its theology that creates its structure and system of salvation. It is those things that determine its outcome and the GOA outcome is clearly seen from the cause of its outcome. The entire EOC corrupt church failure outcome from cause is exposed.

No amount of religious totalism dictatorship power and control in lying, cover up, hiding, or secret keeping can keep the outcome from not being seen in the objective rational reality of the real world. The truth of the EOC is exposed and it is without solution. The EOC is the EOC solution and the EOC is the problem. If you apply the problem to the problem as its solution you go circular without solution and objective rational thinking can see why from cause you are circular without solution.

In other words, the EOC is over. That is what is in objective rational thinking is seen. Yes, now raise up your very best subjective Orthodox thinking response that proves me wrong. Defend and by defending expose yourselves for who that you truly are in your corrupt church failure that has no solution.

There is not one Orthodox apologetic defense I cannot take back to the cause of the church corruption failure and expose it for the lie that it is. All Orthodox self protection defenses are subjective and therefore are easily exposed for what they are by objectivity. All Orthodox self protection is based upon the subjectivity of religious totalism dictatorship power and control. Yes, bring on your best totalism self protection defense. I will expose it for the lie that it is and I will expose how that lie is destroying the EOC dead.

If a church thinks lies its outcome will be a lie of the Gospel that is corrupt and failed by the lie believed. Christian objectivity can see this. Cult subjectivity cannot see this. It’s that simple. All cults are highly subjective and Christ in tthe Gospels is highly objective. Irrational is subjective whereas rational is objective.

There is simply no way the EOC can survive its own self imposed subjectivity by its corrupt and failed subjective theology, structure and system. Anyone can see this by comparing the EO subjective claim to the outcome of that claim in the objective real world.

The elder is a charlatan and the GOA is a cult.

The entire GOA by outcome is a charlatan. It is a liar, thief and murder by corrupt and failed state. A liar, thief and murderer end is its end objectively seen in the real world.

John 8:31-59 exposes to the EO who is leading them to a liar, thief and murderer end. You are lied too to steal you and once stolen you are easily murdered as a church. What steals you owns you and what owns you has the power of life or death over you. Death is your outcome seen in the real world.

So, many orthodox saints believed in them, and I do not dare to consider them wrong.

In my humble oppinion, monastic life is not for everyone; strict monastic life is only for a few; I believe we are to ones to choose our path to salvation and we must take our time and pray for much guideance before we choose this path.

If one can’t endure a strict life and much discipline in this world, they may fail in their monastic life, which I believe is very hard to accomplish. No one is forcing us to choose the life we should live. I have met someone that went to see Fr. Ephraim. She is single and she is considering monasticism. She is still in this world, working as a RN, because she is not disciplined yet, to join. Fr. Ephraim did not recrute her, did not put a gun to her head, she didn’t even discuss monasticism with him, because she started considering it well after she met with him.

The idea of living as brother and sister under the same roof is not new, either. If a couple doesn’t want to have children or if they do not to have any more children, I believe they should try to live as brother and sister. Is it easy? No one said it is, it is a cross we must try to carry on this earth either through monasticism or in this world, the best we can. Orthodoxy is against any form of contraception. So I think that is where the idea of living as brother and sister is coming from, unless the couple purposely want more children or accept the will of God to determine how many children to have by not trying to stop that through the use of contraception.

My 2 cents on some of thouse subjects, not that I consider myself right.

How dare they accuse me of masterminding the movement of funds out of SXP Analytics into a Charity I run the books for and several others I file the taxes for, and then pump the money into a for profit business controlled by Kimberly Mamalakis’s husband, Emmanuel Mamalakis (my Brother In Law).

Damn that Christina Dokos (Wife of Father Dokos) who went poking around asking why we were paying the churches bills as charitable donations on the tax returns I signed! Her husband, Father Dokos, wouldn’t be going through hell and back had they all simply kept their mouths shut and not messed with the entitled class, or questioned whether it was right to do what he “allegedly” did.

We need to get this guy out quick before he whistle blows and brings the feds down on us. Our god given right to provide generous campaign contributions to people like those in favor of getting our cash out of the country onwards to safer shores like the Cayman Islands, needs to be protected like the sacrament. Fuck the Bishop! How dare he fuck with us!

We have powerful friends like David Feiss in the DA’s office, and Jon Tester who will steam roll over anyone who screws with us if they stand in our way.

Mamalakis and family dumped a lot of money into this guys’ campaign. Do you wonder why?

(Everything prior to this was a parody post, the following documents are public facts. No one should make any assumptions about any person named herein without first obtaining verifiable facts that they can attest to with confidence. Everyone who wants to know, may need a little help with guidance, and may appreciate the humor of this post.)

That Ashley Nevins comment is a fake. Sounds like some typical evangelical type of wanna be pastor dishing out fire and brimstone to the Church. Very vicious attack, but I nor others should be alarmed. Sad that these people have some much hatred in them, very unChristian.
With love and prayer . Jim.

Hey, Jim, is the fact that Mamalakis represents the monastery as its legal council an evangelical fire and brimstone fake statement? You sound like an ephramite who can’t make a case against my argument. The best you can do is say you don’t like it.

The more the ephraimites talk the more ignorance they show of the issues and how they are unfolding over time. The unfolding picture of this is not wonderful and beautiful monasticism. The picture is becoming ever more clear over time and time has run out for this monastery. It will not be long now.

The only thing that is ‘sad’ here is the systemic corruption of the GOA in America and the GOC is Greece. That corruption is systemically interconnected. It is a sad state of church.

Hey Jim, make an argument that cult apologetically defends the monastery from those comments and reporting on the monastery issues. Expose the hate of these people who are talking about the issues and that you cannot make a rational case against.

When Jaharis who is the co-chairman of the GOA Clergy/Laity Archdiocene Council called the monastery a ‘disease’ was that hate or reality? Well, which one is it? Make you case.

Look at gotruthreform.org and read the articles there and make an argument against them that labels them nothing but hate. Does pokrov.org who exposes GOA corruptions also represent hate?

Please explain to us how the GOA is not systemically corrupt and how the monastery is not part of that systemic corruption. Tell us how systemic corruption does not touch or influence every aspect of the GOA.

Seems that the Orthodox are being vicious about the issues in the GOA??? Its all a giant conspiracy against the elder, right? He is being persecuted, correct? Anyone who would do this is pawn of Satan, right?

Hey, Jim, what happened to that Bill Stotis led Archdiocene Council committee investigation and report on the monasteries of ephraim? Did a lack of transparency stone wall it? Is the hierarchy hiding something?

Show me the money! Show us your ignorance of the issues around SXP and the monastery. Call it hate when you do. Call it vicious. Call it unChristian to expose what is being exposed. Back it up with the authority of Gods Word to make your case. Compare what Scripture says about exposing corruption in the church to what is being exposed.

Fact is you just don’t like the elder and the church being exposed in the light making you a part of the systemic corruption that is not transparent and accountable and one who by religious codependency supports and enables this sick pathology of church.

Corruption is the basis of a cult. Only a corrupt hierarchy would allow a cult into the church. Corruption attracts corruption like a pile attracts flies. Of course, a cult could not exist in the GOA anymore than its hierarchy could be found sexually corrupt. Remember the EP of Astoria, NY? Tip of the iceberg is that sexual corruption of the hierarchy. Are any of the GOA hierarchy homosexuals? Do any of them protect pedophiles? Do any of them protect a cult leader? No systemically corrupt pattern here, right? No organized religious crime is taking place in this church, right?

Tell me what happened to the priest who represented the monastery on the first KVOA Tucson television report. Seems that those who represent the monastery have ethical and/or moral problems??? Of course, that does not point directly back to the character of the monastery leadership that puts them up front representing them, right?

When David Smith and I first went public on these issues on the St. Andrews forum years ago the ephraimites came out of the woodwork.

When KVOA ran its first report of the monastery the ephraimites came out of the woodwork.

We exposed their thinking, attitude and behavior like no else had before. That was the goal. No one got the reaction out of them that we did. Long before there was any organized Greek Orthodox internal effort to confront the issues we were on the front lines of this fighting. Basically, David, Pokrov and Ashley stood alone.

The Orthodox in America owe Pokrov a debt of gratitude and support for their efforts in exposing the corruptions of the Orthodox. I find it very interesting that two women who had their children abused by Orthodox clergy make that stand. Where have the men of God in the Orthodox America been? Women are taking the responsibility that the so called men of God in Orthodoxy will not assume. No wonder to me why the GOA hierarchy is sexually corrupt right up to the EP. Telling.

We warned the GOA in public that it was doing great harm to our son. No one on the Archdiocene Council, the hierarchy or in other leadership positions in the church can say they were not told straight up what the harm being done to our son was. We told the church this is a cult. The ephraimites and +Gerasimos did not believe us. Are they believing us now? No they are not.

Don’t be fooled by this metropolitan. He is an ephraimite. He supports and protects the monastery under his authority. He is a cultist. You cannot be at this level of authority in the church and support this activity and not be a part of that activity. It is the activity of a cult.

Not to worry Greek Orthodox in America. There is a new and sweeping +Gerasimos diocese growth and relevancy strategy found on the front page of the diocese website. The elders form of monasticism is written into the strategy.

The strategy sounds and looks good on its surface. It has goals, core values and states what it sees as threats to the strategy.

One of the more interesting core values is, integrity in transparency and accountability. The 50 framers of the strategy must believe that the metropolitan embodies a character of integrity in transparency and accountability to lead the strategy to its stated goals.

One of the more interesting threats to the strategy that the strategy lists is the moral failure of other churches potential negative impact on the strategy. In other words, there is no internal moral threat to the strategy in the GOA itself. The GOA itself in not the greatest threat to this strategy. Just ask the Metropolitan.

There are 3 unseen systemic threats to the strategy and all 3 of them are embraced by the strategy. I will it leave up to the church growth and relevancy development expert +Geraismos to explain to the diocese what those 3 systemic threats are. By his transparency in integrity that must also be competent at diocese strategy development he will tell the church what those 3 threats are.

Competent and spiritually mature senior church leadership leads by its role model of integrity in transparency and accountability without favoritism, double standards or cover ups. They are to be the model of Christian ethic’s and morality to the church.

No doubt +Gerasimos will be held to the same standard of transparency and accountability that the strategy states. He will also be holding the elder and St. Anthony’s to that same integrity standard since they both are under the authority of the metropolitan and the monastery has been written into the diocese strategic document. Neither of them have anything to hide, keep secret, cover up, deny or lie about. Just ask them an accountability question and see what answer you get.

The Archdiocene Council commissioned a committee to investigate and then write a report on the monasteries of the elder. No doubt +Gerasimos strongly advocated that the report be made transparent to the church, right? He was so adamant about it that he caused great turmoil on the council in his fight against those who did not want it released. He made sure that St. Anthony’s did not stone wall the investigation. He fights for the transparency of the church. The diocese strategy says so. He is not a part of the problem. He is the solution by the strategy.

The elder of integrity in transparency and accountability supported +Geraismos in his effort to get that investigation report made public to the church. They think alike and they think integrity in transparency and accountability. Mamalakis is following their role model and example of integrity in transparency and accountability. He grew up indoctrinated by the church culture the metropolitan’s and elder created and his character now reveals that. His representing the monastery as its legal council is going to keep the monastery within the rule of law and out of legal problems on a state and federal level. Neither he or the monastery leadership see themselves as above the rule of law.

There will be no double standard of transparency and accountability between the laity leadership and clergy leadership in the diocese strategy. The metropolitan will himself will be held to the same standard as are the rest of the leadership in his diocese. The strategy says so by its INTEGRITY promise.

The mother of God sent the elder to America to get the GOA back on the right spiritually correct Orthodox Mt. Athos correct path. The metropolitan now has a strategy to get the dying diocese corrected and back on track. Why this dynamic duo by their team effort is going to resurrect the GOA from a dead state of church. The dying demographic trend will be reversed. The hemorrhaging will stop. The more ephraim following priests are given parishes the more the GOA will see success. The elders strategy and the metropolitan strategy have the same end result goal in mind, save the GOA from itself.

The church does not have to be saved from these men. These men are the salvation of the dying GOA and they both reside in the same diocese. No coincidence in that. God is setting up the future reversal of the state of the GOA by putting them together in the same diocese to bring that reversal about.

This strategy will soon be the template model all of the other dioceses can copy to see its same success. In a mere 5 years this strategy is going to correct and reverse the course of the GOA from a corrupt, failed, irrelevant, cultic, incompetent, abusive and dying state of church. The first parish was established here about 150 years ago and in 1/30th of the time it took the church to get into this position it will correct itself and reverse that position.

The metropolitan and the elder are going to be the salvation of the GOA by first reversing the course of this diocese. That success with then systemically spread to the entire GOA to make it the most relevant EOC jurisdiction in America. This jurisdiction is not in the same state of the OCA that is dying a slow, ugly and painful death. +Gerasimos is more competent than +Jonah ever was.

All of the centuries of ingrained and generationally transmitted issues will be addressed by the strategy and all obstacles to its success will be seen and removed. The strategy says so and if the metropolitan say so it must be so. He is an Apostle in the direct spiritual line of the Apostles. He is a church builder and not a church killer. Not unlike the Apostle Paul he is willing to pay the same price, make the same sacrifice and take the same risks as he did to see the church move forward and not die a slow, ugly and painful death by corruption.

The GOA did not come to America with a vision and strategy for the Great Commission. It came here as the Great Omission of the Great Commission by ethnic ghetto closed isolation. Now that ethnocentric closed and isolated mind set is going to change by this strategy. I have personally met and engaged this metropolitan. Good luck.

+Gerasimos is a leader of men who lead. He is the leaders leader just like the elder is. They both lead by integrity in transparency and accountability. Their track records prove it!

Why just look at the church these metropolitan Apostles of Jesus Christ have developed in America and look at what has happened to it in Greece the most corrupt country in the EU and that is CHURCH/state.

All of my predictions made of the GOA over the years have come true. All of them.

Prediction: This strategy fails within 5 years.

Blood in on the hands of this diocese and the GOA.

Mark my words. The strategy will fail. In 10 years it will be forgotten. The GO have a short attention span and even shorter memory. It helps them not to have to face themselves and the reality of the state of their church in the mirror of God. If find it interesting how the Orthodox embrace the past but cannot embrace present reality that determines their future reality. They don’t seem to be concerned that their church here in America is turning into a thing of the past. It is dying and going away.

When solution the problem is the problem itself the problem remains and only grows worse over time. The definition of insanity is using the same failed solution over and over and over again and expecting that this time it will produce the solution. I call that circular without solution. This strategy is going to end up going in circles with itself.

I might not be funny, but I am sarcastic. Jesus was sarcastic at the orthodox corruption of His day that He confronted. There are many correlations, parallels and common denominators to the orthodox corruption that He confronted and the corruption that is taking place among the Greek Orthodox of today. A side by side comparison down a page could easily list them. I challenged any framer of the diocese strategy to make an attempt at making that side by side comparison. Jesus Christ in the Gospels was all about making comparisons as He stood as the comparison. Jesus Christ is the comparison and the GOA is not the comparison no matter what it exclusively Gods only true church claims itself to be.

If this is Gods only true church then what is a church of the lie that is corrupt? Make the comparison GOA that you say you are to other churches and Christians who are not Orthodox. Show us how your church is Gods objective standard of comparison by its corrupt state and that determines that other churches and Christians outside of Orthodoxy are heretics practicing apostasy. Corruption is heresy that practices apostasy and when that corruption goes systemic in a church that church does not have the moral or ethical integrity to make such an exclusive claim unless it is completely delusional in perspective of itself.

Corruption would never lead to a delusional perspective, right? The corrupt are rational, right? The corrupt can see themselves with the same objectivity that Gods see them with, right?

Those orthodox Christ confronted also believed they were Gods only right worship, right belief, right fathers, right history, right traditions, right theology, right structure and system of rule and right salvation. They were corrupt and they refused to hear the warning. The lie of corruption does not believe the truth of God. Yes, I know, that comparison is not humorous.

The approach is provocative, conspiratorial and not at all exaggerating, over stating or making leaps. There is a conspiracy taking place, a collusion is taking place. I am sure +Gerasimos the metropolitan of integrity in transparency and accountability will make sure that no stone walling and cover ups take place or secrets are kept when this all comes back to the monastery. This diocese and its monastery are the role model of integrity in transparency and accountability to the rest of the GOA dioceses and monasteries. Just ask the ethically transparent Mamalakis who represents the monastery as its ethical legal council.

Note on Attacks

Anyone who comments on current affairs on-line risks being smeared by attack sites and/or abusive Tweets. This is particularly so if one chooses to challenge dishonesty or other kinds of reprehensible behaviour.

As a result of making a stand in a few particular instances, I have become the focus of a number of such attacks.

The bad faith of such sites and Tweets ought to be self-evident. However, any readers interested in the true background can read this and this.

Islamic Extremists

It is sometimes suggested (in bad faith) that because this blog only sporadically deals with issues of Islamic extremism, while more frequently attending to the excesses of anti-Islam movements, that I must therefore be soft on Islamism (or, indeed, in league with jihadists). So, can we please just take it as read that I view religiously-inspired violence, hate-mongering, and obscurantism as a bane, whichever religion is involved.